About 40 species: SE Asia and North America; two species (both endemic) in China.

One of the present authors (van der Werff) is of the opinion that the two species placed here in Nothaphoebe do not belong to this genus and that, instead, N. cavaleriei is better placed in Phoebe, while N. konishii is better placed in Machilus. The generic placement of N. fargesii H. Liu (Laurac. Chine & Indochine, 78. 1932; see FRPS 31: 82. 1982), described from Chongqing (Chengkou), remains uncertain.